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Home Science Under Attack In Massachusetts
An anonymous reader tips a guest posting up on the MAKE Magazine blog by the author of the Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments. It seems that authorities in Massachusetts have raided a home chemistry lab, apparently without a warrant, and made off with all of its contents. Here's the local article from the Worcester Telegram & Gazette. "Victor Deeb, a retired chemist who lives in Marlboro, has finally been allowed to return to his Fremont Street home, after Massachusetts authorities spent three days ransacking his basement lab and making off with its contents. Deeb is not accused of making methamphetamine or other illegal drugs. He's not accused of aiding terrorists, synthesizing explosives, nor even of making illegal fireworks. Deeb fell afoul of the Massachusetts authorities for... doing experiments... Pamela Wilderman, the code enforcement officer for [the Massachusetts town of] Marlboro stated, 'I think Mr. Deeb has crossed a line somewhere. This is not what we would consider to be a customary home occupation.' Allow me to translate Ms. Wilderman's words into plain English: 'Mr. Deeb hasn't actually violated any law or regulation that I can find, but I don't like what he's doing because I'm ignorant and irrationally afraid of chemicals, so I'll abuse my power to steal his property and shut him down.'"
"[T]he home owner invited the cops in when he called the fire department"? Tell me, when you invite a friend over for a party, do you invite their roommate over to steal your television? If so, I'd like to make your acquaintance. I think I'd get a lot of other new friends.
Pam Wilderman's phone number according to the city's website is 1-(508)-460-3765. Give her some hell. She's a public servant. Call and let her know your opinion on the matter.
shut up, buy stuff and watch TV, prole.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
"Well Richard, it seems my fellow Texans have been slacking! Let me just take a few minutes to tell you about Jesus, and the wonderful sacrifice he made for you..."
"Jesus" is a copyrighted work of the Republican Party. Please consult their lawyers before going any further. :)
"This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
Actually, fascists hate consumerism just as much as the communists.
Remember, another word for fascism is "national socialism". It's communism mixed with nationalism. Read bsDaemon's post too--the corporations in corporatism aren't corporations in the modern sense.
I support the Center for Consumer Freedom
Sometimes I wish I hadn't bought a place in Marlborough in 2005. Shortly afterward, the city council tried to pass the harshest sex-offender law in the state and among the harshest in the country. This law, if enacted, would have barred Level II and III offenders from living, working, or even existing in 98% of the city. The mayor vetoed it, and then a nominally reduced version was passed over her veto a few months later. The 1,000 foot exclusion from any place children congregate (as opposed to 2,500 feet) still bars those on the registry from setting foot in 80% of the city's area for any purpose, including the city's large mall and the vast majority of other businesses. Laws like these imposed on people who often have either committed minor offenses (e.g. urinating on the side of the road) or have been punished rather severely already (e.g. 5 or 10 years in the state's maximum security prison for a rape) discourage people from re-entering society and can inspire more severe crime. If a "Level III" offender is really that much of a risk for finding the closest 7-year old kid and forcing his way on him/her, the proper place for that offender is a 6x10 cell for the rest of his life. Otherwise, once he's served his sentence, give him a chance to start his life over.
And now they go ahead with this kind of crap? I don't care how the stuff was found or how hazardous it was. If it were a genuine hazard, proper response by the FD would have been to give the guy 14 days to get the offending chemicals off of the property. Usually zoning infractions like are handled by a cease-and-desist order that can be challenged in court to determine if the facts of the case really constitute a zoning violation. Ten years ago, that kind of seizure without wouldn't have flown even if the contraband was pure cocaine, and the war on drugs has lasted a lot more than ten years.
I hope the mayor speaks out on the way this went down. When I found out about the sex offender thing just before last year's election, I decided she was worth voting for re-election. (I'm not on this list by the way, I'm just a fierce opponent of it since it's the prime example of the left wing being just as anxious to infringe the Constitution as the right wing in this country).
"In 1951, A.C. Gilbert introduced his U-238 Atomic Energy Lab, a radioactive learning set we can only assume was fun for the whole math club."
http://www.radaronline.com/features/2006/12/gilbert_u238_atomic_energy_lab.php
... redefined to "ultra religious crazy people that no one in their right mind should agree with."
You forgot the part about guns -- the kind nobody hunts with, but "we've got our rights, so we keep 'em, see?"
I only post comments when someone on the internet is wrong.
would someone please mod this offtopic? I'm really having a hard time seeing how a knee-jerk libertarian rant about OMG TEH FREEDOMS has anything to do with a guy who is tinkering with large amounts of chemicals in the basement of his house in violation of common-sense municipal ordinances.
Nobody's taking away this guy's ability to practice his hobby. Really. They're just telling him that he can't do so in an area of town where if he blows his house up he'd take the lives and property of innocent neighbors with it. Why is that such a hard concept to grasp?
the coolest club on
Pamela A. Wilderman, Marlboro's code enforcement officer, said ... "I think Mr. Deeb has crossed a line somewhere." ... "There are regulations about how much you're supposed to have, how it's detained, how it's disposed of."
All of which she thinks. Absent a warrant, it is unlawful search & seizure. If they had observed the chemicals and then issued an investigation, finding he was actually in violation, that would be a hell of a lot better than this "he's doing something I don't approve of".
Slashdot's rate-of-post filter: Preventing you from posting too many great ideas at once.
Don't call her up. The guy was in violation of zoning laws but she's not pressing charges.
i'd hit it so hard, if you pulled me out you'd be the king of britain [bash.org]
Three responses:
1. Easy to say.
2. Easy to say.
3. Well, my work here is done.
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
"In 1857, at the age of 10, Thomas Edison set up a chemical laboratory in the cellar of his home. Good thing his house wasn't raided by the authorities."
Actually it's not a 'good thing' since a 'raid' on young Edisons lab may have saved his friends life.
After Edison set up the lab he convinced a younger friend to drink a mixture he had made by telling him it would make him fly. The child died from poisioning. As punishment his father dismantled the lab and took Thomas into town where he flogged him in public for his mis-deeds.
Edison did not have a lab for a few years until he started work on the railway (IIRC at age 14). He obtained permission to set up a lab in the caboose of a train for a while but after another chemical accident the train conductor slapped him on the side of the head so hard that it caused permenant deafness in one ear.
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
1. How does that make Texas still a "very Red state"?
2. You would have been proud to consider yourself a Republican back when they were doing everything they could to stop the Civil Rights Act and to elect Nixon?
--
make install -not war
Flamebait! How can this be anything but either "Informative" or "Insightful"? :-)
Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!